返回Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Gal. 5:1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty which Christ has given us,
You are not the ones, he says, who freed yourselves, but the One Who gave a ransom for you. How then after this do you subject yourselves to the lordship of the law against the intention of Christ Who freed you? By saying "stand firm," he made it known that they were wavering.
Gal. 5:1. And do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.
By the word 'yoke' he points to the heaviness of slavery under the law. And by the expression 'again' he exposes their insensibility, since they, despite knowing the heaviness of slavery from experience, again voluntarily pass into it.
Gal. 5:2. Behold, I, Paul, say to you: if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
Instead of any proof, the apostle appeals to his own authority. Christ no longer benefits the one who is circumcised, because such a person rejects His grace and turns to the law as a benefactor, and does not believe in Christ at all, as if He had not bestowed any benefit upon him. And not believing, he cannot receive benefit from the One in Whom he does not believe.
Gal. 5:3. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
Lest anyone think that this is said out of enmity, he adds: I am declaring this not only to you, but to everyone who is circumcised, that you are laying a great burden upon yourselves. The ordinances of the law are closely connected with one another, and if you acknowledge even a small portion of the law and subject yourself to this yoke, then you subject yourself to the dominion of the entire law. For circumcision requires a sacrifice and is appointed to a certain day, and the sacrifice requires a place, a manner of offering, and purifications. For an unclean person cannot offer sacrifices. Purifications in turn require the fulfillment of other legal prescriptions. Do you see how the one who has rejected Christ not only receives no benefit from Him, but also subjects himself to countless burdens? If the law is master, then fulfill everything, but if not, then do not accept even a portion of it.
Gal. 5:4. You who justify yourselves by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace,
That is, you have no communion with Christ: you who think to obtain justification in the law have fallen from grace, which truly justifies. It is a great misfortune when you will not receive what the law promises, and you lose what grace gives.
Gal. 5:5. But we through the Spirit wait and hope for righteousness by faith.
We, he says, believers, hope to receive justification not in the law, but in the Holy Spirit. In what way? By faith. Therefore, one must submit to the guidance of faith, then by the descent of the Holy Spirit receive the forgiveness of sins and be deemed worthy of justification in baptism.
Gal. 5:6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power, but faith working through love.
Previously he said that circumcision is ruinous, so how does he now consider it indifferent? In our opinion, he is speaking here about circumcision that preceded faith; he is saying, as it were: for those who have entered the New Covenant, there is no benefit if they are circumcised, and no harm if they are not circumcised. For everything consists in faith working through love, that is, in faith which must always be active and alive in love for Christ. By this he also indicates that although they had believed, they had not grown strong in love for Christ and as a result turned back again to the law, or else he is instructing them in love for their neighbor. And at the same time he shows that their deceivers too, if they had love for them, would not have dared to do this. So learn that faith becomes active through love, that is, it is alive, while faith that does not have love is inactive — similar to what is said: "faith without works is dead" (James 2:20).
Gal. 5:7. You were running well: who hindered you, that you should not obey the truth?
This is not a question, but a lament. He says: you had attained perfection, but what happened? Who gained such power as to hinder you from obeying not the evangelical truth, but the abolished law?
Gal. 5:8. This persuasion is not from Him who calls you.
That is, this attention to deceivers is not from Christ; for He did not call you to that end, that you should give heed to those who incline toward Judaism.
Gal. 5:9. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Lest they say: "why do you rebuke us so strongly (for we have violated only one commandment) and exaggerate our guilt?" – he says that this seemingly insignificant circumstance causes substantial harm. For, just as leaven, even a small amount, by itself leavens and transforms the entire lump of dough, so too circumcision, although it constitutes only one commandment, draws you into Judaism in all its fullness.
Gal. 5:10. I am confident about you in the Lord, that you will not think otherwise;
I am confident in you, he says, because I know my disciples, I know your capacity for correction. So then, I hope that you can be corrected. I also hope in the Lord, Who does not desire the destruction of any person whatsoever. Thus, he urges them both to apply their own efforts and to hope in the Lord. For it is otherwise impossible to receive anything from God — if you do not apply, he says, your own diligence.
Gal. 5:10. But he who troubles you, whoever he may be, shall bear his judgment (κρίμα).
Though you, he says, will be corrected, those who deceived you will not on account of this be freed from punishment, but will be subjected to judgment, no matter how great and worthy of trust they may seem. For this is what the words mean: whoever he may be. And he says this so that others too would not believe them.
Gal. 5:11. Why then am I still persecuted, brethren, if I still preach circumcision?
Since the slanderers were saying that he is a hypocrite and preaches circumcision in one place but not in another, he says: you are witnesses that the Jews persecute me. If I preach circumcision, then why do others persecute me? Clearly, they persecute me for violating their ancestral ordinances. But if I preach circumcision and uphold the ancestral ordinances, why then do they persecute me? But what of it, they say? Did you not circumcise Timothy? Yes, but that was with a special purpose. And besides, it is one thing to circumcise, and another to preach circumcision. For he did not say "if I performed circumcision," but "if I preach." For he who preaches teaches that this must always be done, as something unconditionally good, whereas he who does something for special purposes does it not because it is unconditionally good, but because it is useful in the given case.
Gal. 5:11. Then the scandal of the cross would have ceased.
If I were preaching circumcision, there would be no scandal which the cross produces in the Jews. And they are scandalized by the preaching of the cross and do not accept it for no other reason than because it abolishes circumcision and the law. Likewise, if I were preaching circumcision, the enmity of the Jews toward the cross and the scandal which it arouses in them would cease and disappear.
Gal. 5:12. O, if only those who are troubling you would be cut off!
Those who had been led astray he called at first foolish and rebuked them no more than children, but the deceivers themselves, as incurably sick, he curses and says: oh, if only they would not merely circumcise themselves, but cut up their whole body entirely! And notice, he called them "those who unsettle you" (in Slavonic "those who pervert," in Greek "those who compel you to leave your homeland and freedom"), leading them into captivity. Because they truly were depriving them of freedom and, leading them away from the heavenly Jerusalem, were settling them like exiles under the law and the pettiness of Judaism. Note also concerning those who castrate themselves, that they bring upon themselves the curse of the apostle.
Gal. 5:13. You were called to freedom, brothers, only let not your freedom become an occasion for indulging the flesh,
We were not called by Christ, he says, in order to become slaves of the law, but to be freed from the yoke of servitude under the law. Then, lest anyone think that since we are free, we may do whatever we wish, he corrects this and says: let not our freedom be an occasion for indulging the flesh, that is, fleshly desires. For we were not freed from the yoke of the law in order to commit transgressions, but so that even without the yoke we might walk in good order, as is fitting for those who have received a good upbringing. And we did not receive freedom in order to break the law, but to surpass even the law.
Gal. 5:13. But by love serve one another.
Having removed the yoke of the law, he imposes another yoke, the yoke of love, both lighter and at the same time stronger than the former. He also hints that these deceivers appeared among them out of a desire for power, for love of power is the mother of heresies. Therefore, since love of authority produced division among you, "through love serve one another," and by the word "serve" he denotes love that is intense and strong. Then turning to moral instructions, he shows the way by which one can eliminate enslavement to fleshly desires.
Gal. 5:14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: love your neighbor as yourself.
If fully, he says, you desire to fulfill the law, then fulfill it not by circumcision, but by love, because in this consists the fullness of the law. See, while setting forth moral instructions, he does not forget dogmatic teaching either. So greatly did he grieve over their error.
Gal. 5:15. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed lest you be consumed by one another.
That which he knows for certain, he expresses with doubt, and the following expression: "take heed that ye be not consumed one of another" – is a warning and caution, not a condemnation. He did not simply say "ye bite" (which is characteristic of anger), but added "devour," which serves as a manifestation of extreme savagery. By this he also points to corrupted teaching, and implies also the plotting against one another, plundering and covetousness. And since they, in doing evil and plotting, thought only of harming others, he says: take heed lest this matter turn against you yourselves.
Gal. 5:16. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,
Having said that biting and devouring is destructive, he points out the remedy against this as well, which both preserves love and is itself preserved by it, namely, that they should be spiritual. For if we are spiritual, we will love more strongly, and if we love, we will be spiritual and then will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Gal. 5:17. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh: they are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you would like.
On the basis of these words, the Manichaeans and all heretics of this sort say that man consists of two opposing natures and that the apostle confirms this with the present words. But no: he is reasoning not about nature, but by "flesh" he means earthly thoughts, careless and heedless, and not the body, and by "spirit" he means spiritual thoughts, and not the soul. Earthly thoughts, he says, oppose spiritual ones, and spiritual ones oppose earthly ones. Thus, he acknowledges the struggle of evil and good thoughts, but not of body and soul. For to desire and not to desire is a matter of the reasoning soul. He adds, "you do not do the things you would wish," because the body also cooperates with the soul and does not oppose it, and the soul clings to the body and endures everything so as not to leave it, and when torn from it, grieves. How then can they be opponents when they have such a bond with one another?
Gal. 5:18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
He who has the Spirit extinguishes evil desires, and he who is free from them has no need of the counsel of the law and is not subject to it. For he who does not grow angry, what need has he of the commandment not to kill? And he who has no lustful desires, what need has he of the counsel not to commit adultery? This is the same as what he said elsewhere: "the law is not made for a righteous man" (1 Tim. 1:9). He also seems to speak in praise of the law, since it served in place of the Spirit, fulfilling to the extent of its power the duty of a guide until an appointed time. How then do you again submit yourselves to a tutor, having abandoned the Spirit who makes you perfect — as if someone who is already a philosopher were to need a tutor?
Gal. 5:19. The works of the flesh are manifest; they are: adultery, fornication,
These, he says, are the works of the corrupt carnal will, among which are recognized adultery and fornication. And it is clear how much adultery differs from fornication.
Gal. 5:19. impurity, lewdness,
He hints at shameless customs which he did not even dare to name.
Gal. 5:20. Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, quarrels, jealousy, wrath, contentions, dissensions, (temptations), heresies,
Gal. 5:21. Hatred, murders, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I forewarn you, as I also forewarned, that those who practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Let those who slander the flesh tell us. Granted that shamelessness and adultery are sins of the body, but how do enmity, heresies, and the like depend on the flesh? Therefore it is clear that all these are the work of a corrupted will. If they were works of the flesh, like our natural properties, how would they deprive us of the Kingdom of God? For punishments and rewards belong not to nature, but to the will. Moreover, if the passions were properties of nature, he would not have said "those who do such things," but "those who suffer them," because action presupposes will. By "enmity" he means unjust enmity. For there is also a righteous hostility, which arises in the name of faith and is directed against all who deviate from the straight path. By jealousy he means another manifestation of it (zelotypia). Because jealousy can also be good, when someone imitates one who does good (is zealous for good). But he excellently placed heresies alongside strife and dissensions, because every heresy arises from envy, and revelries from drunkenness. For revelries are the insolent songs of drunkards. Therefore he first pointed out the causes that produce these things, then what results from them.
Gal. 5:22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
Evil deeds come only from us. That is why he called them works of the flesh, which are at the same time performed with effort and strain. But good deeds require not only our diligence, but also assistance from above. That is why he called them the fruit of the Spirit, since from us is given the seed, that is, the will, but for it to become fruit — this depends on God. The root of all good things he places, first, in love, and then in joy. For the one who loves always rejoices, even when enduring evil, because he regards the one causing evil as a benefactor. But he rejoices in God, since he does and endures all things for Him, and as a result is gladdened with a good conscience. And from love and joy he also enjoys peace of soul, because he is not disturbed by thoughts and is at peace with all those around him. And if he would seem to show enmity toward someone, he is hostile not against the people themselves, but against their vices; he loves them as brothers, and this enmity he shows for their benefit, so that they might be corrected.
Gal. 5:22. Long-suffering, goodness, kindness, faith,
Gal. 5:23. Meekness, temperance.
Long-suffering, according to Scripture, apparently differs from meekness in that the long-suffering man, after lengthy deliberation, not hastily but slowly, imposes a fitting punishment upon the sinner; whereas the meek man forgives entirely. For example, Moses, who forgave Miriam and Aaron, was called meek above all men who were upon the face of the earth (Num. 12). Goodness is something more general compared to mercy (ἀγαθοδύνη). The Lord is good to all in general, but mercy benefits only the worthy, according to the expression: "Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good" (Ps. 125:4). And he speaks not of simple faith, but of that which moves mountains, which believes without doubt that what is impossible with men is possible for God. But above all is self-control — not from foods only, but from everything evil.
Gal. 5:23. Upon such there is no law.
For the soul that performs such deeds by the Spirit has no need of the instruction of the law, being itself above it, just as naturally swift horses have no need of the whip. And in this case he sets aside the law not because it is bad, but because it is inferior to the wisdom bestowed by the Spirit.
Gal. 5:24. But those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
As if in answer to the secret question: who is so virtuous as you say? — he replies: "those who are Christ's," that is, those who constitute the lot of Christ, "have crucified the flesh," that is, have put to death the carnal thoughts. For they did not kill themselves: by flesh you should understand not the substance of the flesh, but earthly thoughts, so that neither the passions of anger nor desires live in them, but both the one and the other have been crucified and put to death. Or by passions he means passionate actions in general, whether they proceed from anger or from desire. Thus, he speaks not only of the putting to death of such actions, but also of their very causes, that is, the desires.
Gal. 5:25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
If, he says, such is the power of the Spirit, then by it let us also live, and by it let us be content. For the expression: "let us also walk in the Spirit" is used instead of: let us be content with the power of the Spirit and not seek the help of the law.
Gal. 5:26. Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.
He shows by this that the deceivers took up this matter out of vainglory (for this is the cause of all evils), provoking one another to argument and strife; just as if someone were to say to his opponent: if you are strong, let us measure our strength against each other. And since envy arises from vainglory, he forbids it as well.
Gal. 5:1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty which Christ has given us,
You are not the ones, he says, who freed yourselves, but the One Who gave a ransom for you. How then after this do you subject yourselves to the lordship of the law against the intention of Christ Who freed you? By saying "stand firm," he made it known that they were wavering.
Gal. 5:1. And do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.
By the word 'yoke' he points to the heaviness of slavery under the law. And by the expression 'again' he exposes their insensibility, since they, despite knowing the heaviness of slavery from experience, again voluntarily pass into it.
Gal. 5:2. Behold, I, Paul, say to you: if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
Instead of any proof, the apostle appeals to his own authority. Christ no longer benefits the one who is circumcised, because such a person rejects His grace and turns to the law as a benefactor, and does not believe in Christ at all, as if He had not bestowed any benefit upon him. And not believing, he cannot receive benefit from the One in Whom he does not believe.
Gal. 5:3. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
Lest anyone think that this is said out of enmity, he adds: I am declaring this not only to you, but to everyone who is circumcised, that you are laying a great burden upon yourselves. The ordinances of the law are closely connected with one another, and if you acknowledge even a small portion of the law and subject yourself to this yoke, then you subject yourself to the dominion of the entire law. For circumcision requires a sacrifice and is appointed to a certain day, and the sacrifice requires a place, a manner of offering, and purifications. For an unclean person cannot offer sacrifices. Purifications in turn require the fulfillment of other legal prescriptions. Do you see how the one who has rejected Christ not only receives no benefit from Him, but also subjects himself to countless burdens? If the law is master, then fulfill everything, but if not, then do not accept even a portion of it.
Gal. 5:4. You who justify yourselves by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace,
That is, you have no communion with Christ: you who think to obtain justification in the law have fallen from grace, which truly justifies. It is a great misfortune when you will not receive what the law promises, and you lose what grace gives.
Gal. 5:5. But we through the Spirit wait and hope for righteousness by faith.
We, he says, believers, hope to receive justification not in the law, but in the Holy Spirit. In what way? By faith. Therefore, one must submit to the guidance of faith, then by the descent of the Holy Spirit receive the forgiveness of sins and be deemed worthy of justification in baptism.
Gal. 5:6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power, but faith working through love.
Previously he said that circumcision is ruinous, so how does he now consider it indifferent? In our opinion, he is speaking here about circumcision that preceded faith; he is saying, as it were: for those who have entered the New Covenant, there is no benefit if they are circumcised, and no harm if they are not circumcised. For everything consists in faith working through love, that is, in faith which must always be active and alive in love for Christ. By this he also indicates that although they had believed, they had not grown strong in love for Christ and as a result turned back again to the law, or else he is instructing them in love for their neighbor. And at the same time he shows that their deceivers too, if they had love for them, would not have dared to do this. So learn that faith becomes active through love, that is, it is alive, while faith that does not have love is inactive — similar to what is said: "faith without works is dead" (James 2:20).
Gal. 5:7. You were running well: who hindered you, that you should not obey the truth?
This is not a question, but a lament. He says: you had attained perfection, but what happened? Who gained such power as to hinder you from obeying not the evangelical truth, but the abolished law?
Gal. 5:8. This persuasion is not from Him who calls you.
That is, this attention to deceivers is not from Christ; for He did not call you to that end, that you should give heed to those who incline toward Judaism.
Gal. 5:9. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Lest they say: "why do you rebuke us so strongly (for we have violated only one commandment) and exaggerate our guilt?" – he says that this seemingly insignificant circumstance causes substantial harm. For, just as leaven, even a small amount, by itself leavens and transforms the entire lump of dough, so too circumcision, although it constitutes only one commandment, draws you into Judaism in all its fullness.
Gal. 5:10. I am confident about you in the Lord, that you will not think otherwise;
I am confident in you, he says, because I know my disciples, I know your capacity for correction. So then, I hope that you can be corrected. I also hope in the Lord, Who does not desire the destruction of any person whatsoever. Thus, he urges them both to apply their own efforts and to hope in the Lord. For it is otherwise impossible to receive anything from God — if you do not apply, he says, your own diligence.
Gal. 5:10. But he who troubles you, whoever he may be, shall bear his judgment (κρίμα).
Though you, he says, will be corrected, those who deceived you will not on account of this be freed from punishment, but will be subjected to judgment, no matter how great and worthy of trust they may seem. For this is what the words mean: whoever he may be. And he says this so that others too would not believe them.
Gal. 5:11. Why then am I still persecuted, brethren, if I still preach circumcision?
Since the slanderers were saying that he is a hypocrite and preaches circumcision in one place but not in another, he says: you are witnesses that the Jews persecute me. If I preach circumcision, then why do others persecute me? Clearly, they persecute me for violating their ancestral ordinances. But if I preach circumcision and uphold the ancestral ordinances, why then do they persecute me? But what of it, they say? Did you not circumcise Timothy? Yes, but that was with a special purpose. And besides, it is one thing to circumcise, and another to preach circumcision. For he did not say "if I performed circumcision," but "if I preach." For he who preaches teaches that this must always be done, as something unconditionally good, whereas he who does something for special purposes does it not because it is unconditionally good, but because it is useful in the given case.
Gal. 5:11. Then the scandal of the cross would have ceased.
If I were preaching circumcision, there would be no scandal which the cross produces in the Jews. And they are scandalized by the preaching of the cross and do not accept it for no other reason than because it abolishes circumcision and the law. Likewise, if I were preaching circumcision, the enmity of the Jews toward the cross and the scandal which it arouses in them would cease and disappear.
Gal. 5:12. O, if only those who are troubling you would be cut off!
Those who had been led astray he called at first foolish and rebuked them no more than children, but the deceivers themselves, as incurably sick, he curses and says: oh, if only they would not merely circumcise themselves, but cut up their whole body entirely! And notice, he called them "those who unsettle you" (in Slavonic "those who pervert," in Greek "those who compel you to leave your homeland and freedom"), leading them into captivity. Because they truly were depriving them of freedom and, leading them away from the heavenly Jerusalem, were settling them like exiles under the law and the pettiness of Judaism. Note also concerning those who castrate themselves, that they bring upon themselves the curse of the apostle.
Gal. 5:13. You were called to freedom, brothers, only let not your freedom become an occasion for indulging the flesh,
We were not called by Christ, he says, in order to become slaves of the law, but to be freed from the yoke of servitude under the law. Then, lest anyone think that since we are free, we may do whatever we wish, he corrects this and says: let not our freedom be an occasion for indulging the flesh, that is, fleshly desires. For we were not freed from the yoke of the law in order to commit transgressions, but so that even without the yoke we might walk in good order, as is fitting for those who have received a good upbringing. And we did not receive freedom in order to break the law, but to surpass even the law.
Gal. 5:13. But by love serve one another.
Having removed the yoke of the law, he imposes another yoke, the yoke of love, both lighter and at the same time stronger than the former. He also hints that these deceivers appeared among them out of a desire for power, for love of power is the mother of heresies. Therefore, since love of authority produced division among you, "through love serve one another," and by the word "serve" he denotes love that is intense and strong. Then turning to moral instructions, he shows the way by which one can eliminate enslavement to fleshly desires.
Gal. 5:14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: love your neighbor as yourself.
If fully, he says, you desire to fulfill the law, then fulfill it not by circumcision, but by love, because in this consists the fullness of the law. See, while setting forth moral instructions, he does not forget dogmatic teaching either. So greatly did he grieve over their error.
Gal. 5:15. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed lest you be consumed by one another.
That which he knows for certain, he expresses with doubt, and the following expression: "take heed that ye be not consumed one of another" – is a warning and caution, not a condemnation. He did not simply say "ye bite" (which is characteristic of anger), but added "devour," which serves as a manifestation of extreme savagery. By this he also points to corrupted teaching, and implies also the plotting against one another, plundering and covetousness. And since they, in doing evil and plotting, thought only of harming others, he says: take heed lest this matter turn against you yourselves.
Gal. 5:16. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,
Having said that biting and devouring is destructive, he points out the remedy against this as well, which both preserves love and is itself preserved by it, namely, that they should be spiritual. For if we are spiritual, we will love more strongly, and if we love, we will be spiritual and then will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Gal. 5:17. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh: they are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you would like.
On the basis of these words, the Manichaeans and all heretics of this sort say that man consists of two opposing natures and that the apostle confirms this with the present words. But no: he is reasoning not about nature, but by "flesh" he means earthly thoughts, careless and heedless, and not the body, and by "spirit" he means spiritual thoughts, and not the soul. Earthly thoughts, he says, oppose spiritual ones, and spiritual ones oppose earthly ones. Thus, he acknowledges the struggle of evil and good thoughts, but not of body and soul. For to desire and not to desire is a matter of the reasoning soul. He adds, "you do not do the things you would wish," because the body also cooperates with the soul and does not oppose it, and the soul clings to the body and endures everything so as not to leave it, and when torn from it, grieves. How then can they be opponents when they have such a bond with one another?
Gal. 5:18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
He who has the Spirit extinguishes evil desires, and he who is free from them has no need of the counsel of the law and is not subject to it. For he who does not grow angry, what need has he of the commandment not to kill? And he who has no lustful desires, what need has he of the counsel not to commit adultery? This is the same as what he said elsewhere: "the law is not made for a righteous man" (1 Tim. 1:9). He also seems to speak in praise of the law, since it served in place of the Spirit, fulfilling to the extent of its power the duty of a guide until an appointed time. How then do you again submit yourselves to a tutor, having abandoned the Spirit who makes you perfect — as if someone who is already a philosopher were to need a tutor?
Gal. 5:19. The works of the flesh are manifest; they are: adultery, fornication,
These, he says, are the works of the corrupt carnal will, among which are recognized adultery and fornication. And it is clear how much adultery differs from fornication.
Gal. 5:19. impurity, lewdness,
He hints at shameless customs which he did not even dare to name.
Gal. 5:20. Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, quarrels, jealousy, wrath, contentions, dissensions, (temptations), heresies,
Gal. 5:21. Hatred, murders, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I forewarn you, as I also forewarned, that those who practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Let those who slander the flesh tell us. Granted that shamelessness and adultery are sins of the body, but how do enmity, heresies, and the like depend on the flesh? Therefore it is clear that all these are the work of a corrupted will. If they were works of the flesh, like our natural properties, how would they deprive us of the Kingdom of God? For punishments and rewards belong not to nature, but to the will. Moreover, if the passions were properties of nature, he would not have said "those who do such things," but "those who suffer them," because action presupposes will. By "enmity" he means unjust enmity. For there is also a righteous hostility, which arises in the name of faith and is directed against all who deviate from the straight path. By jealousy he means another manifestation of it (zelotypia). Because jealousy can also be good, when someone imitates one who does good (is zealous for good). But he excellently placed heresies alongside strife and dissensions, because every heresy arises from envy, and revelries from drunkenness. For revelries are the insolent songs of drunkards. Therefore he first pointed out the causes that produce these things, then what results from them.
Gal. 5:22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
Evil deeds come only from us. That is why he called them works of the flesh, which are at the same time performed with effort and strain. But good deeds require not only our diligence, but also assistance from above. That is why he called them the fruit of the Spirit, since from us is given the seed, that is, the will, but for it to become fruit — this depends on God. The root of all good things he places, first, in love, and then in joy. For the one who loves always rejoices, even when enduring evil, because he regards the one causing evil as a benefactor. But he rejoices in God, since he does and endures all things for Him, and as a result is gladdened with a good conscience. And from love and joy he also enjoys peace of soul, because he is not disturbed by thoughts and is at peace with all those around him. And if he would seem to show enmity toward someone, he is hostile not against the people themselves, but against their vices; he loves them as brothers, and this enmity he shows for their benefit, so that they might be corrected.
Gal. 5:22. Long-suffering, goodness, kindness, faith,
Gal. 5:23. Meekness, temperance.
Long-suffering, according to Scripture, apparently differs from meekness in that the long-suffering man, after lengthy deliberation, not hastily but slowly, imposes a fitting punishment upon the sinner; whereas the meek man forgives entirely. For example, Moses, who forgave Miriam and Aaron, was called meek above all men who were upon the face of the earth (Num. 12). Goodness is something more general compared to mercy (ἀγαθοδύνη). The Lord is good to all in general, but mercy benefits only the worthy, according to the expression: "Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good" (Ps. 125:4). And he speaks not of simple faith, but of that which moves mountains, which believes without doubt that what is impossible with men is possible for God. But above all is self-control — not from foods only, but from everything evil.
Gal. 5:23. Upon such there is no law.
For the soul that performs such deeds by the Spirit has no need of the instruction of the law, being itself above it, just as naturally swift horses have no need of the whip. And in this case he sets aside the law not because it is bad, but because it is inferior to the wisdom bestowed by the Spirit.
Gal. 5:24. But those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
As if in answer to the secret question: who is so virtuous as you say? — he replies: "those who are Christ's," that is, those who constitute the lot of Christ, "have crucified the flesh," that is, have put to death the carnal thoughts. For they did not kill themselves: by flesh you should understand not the substance of the flesh, but earthly thoughts, so that neither the passions of anger nor desires live in them, but both the one and the other have been crucified and put to death. Or by passions he means passionate actions in general, whether they proceed from anger or from desire. Thus, he speaks not only of the putting to death of such actions, but also of their very causes, that is, the desires.
Gal. 5:25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
If, he says, such is the power of the Spirit, then by it let us also live, and by it let us be content. For the expression: "let us also walk in the Spirit" is used instead of: let us be content with the power of the Spirit and not seek the help of the law.
Gal. 5:26. Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.
He shows by this that the deceivers took up this matter out of vainglory (for this is the cause of all evils), provoking one another to argument and strife; just as if someone were to say to his opponent: if you are strong, let us measure our strength against each other. And since envy arises from vainglory, he forbids it as well.